Help with Implications of Library's place in University DNS
Zhang, Bin
bzhang at CSUS.EDU
Wed Sep 19 15:03:21 EDT 2012
It is pretty easy to have aliases so any of those URLs will take the users to the Library’s website, and this is what we have:
· www.lib.csus.edu<http://www.lib.csus.edu>
· Library.csus.edu
· www.csus.edu/library<http://www.csus.edu/library>
It does become an issue when the campus decides to consolidate web servers, so the library’s web site has to move to the campus main web server. This is happening on our campus. We basically have to rebuild the library website to work with the campus environment. Many of the dynamic content we developed over the past few years will stop working. I see this as a bigger problem than simple URL change. I don’t know if any of you face this problem…
---
Bin Zhang
Digital Information Services Librarian
Library 3501D
Library Systems & IT Services, University Library
California State University, Sacramento
2000 State University Drive East, Sacramento, CA 95819-6039
(916) 278-5664 (O); (916) 278-3891 (F)
bzhang AT csus DOT edu
From: Web technologies in libraries [mailto:WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Aaron Tay
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2012 11:50 AM
To: WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [WEB4LIB] Help with Implications of Library's place in University DNS
Interesting that the consensus here is that
library.institutionname.edu<http://library.institutionname.edu> is easier to remember or use for people than insitutionname.edu/library<http://insitutionname.edu/library> ?
We gotten feedback from users arguing the reverse. Think they said everyone knows how to get to the institutional homepage and then it's common sense just to add /library .
Anyway we are a lib.institutionname type of library.
With best regards,
Tay Chee Hsien, Aaron (Mr) :: Senior Librarian, NUS Libraries :: National University of Singapore :: Central Library (Information Services), 12 Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore 119275 :: 65-6516 2030(DID) :: (Fax) :: 65-6774 7180 :: aarontay at nus.edu.sg<mailto:aarontay at nus.edu.sg><mailto:aarontay at nus.edu.sg> (E) :: www.nus.edu.sg<http://www.nus.edu.sg><http://www.nus.edu.sg> (W) :: Company Registration No: 200604346E
On 20 Sep, 2012, at 12:20 AM, Nina Mchale <milehighbrarian at gmail.com<mailto:milehighbrarian at gmail.com>> wrote:
Hey, all,
SEO and technical issues aside, consider human factors as well. Imagine yourself giving someone the URL over the phone. Is it easier to say "That's lib, L-I-B, dot..." OR just "That's library dot..." ...followed by the domain name and suffix, which, at least in an academic setting, is probably similar to the parent institution. It also looks better to use full words, rather than a jumble of acronyms, on printed or other collateral for branding/marketing. And having the URL library.institutionname.edu<http://library.institutionname.edu> is quicker/shorter than www.insitutionname.edu/library<http://www.insitutionname.edu/library> or even insitutionname.edu/library<http://insitutionname.edu/library>. Easier to say, easier to read, easier for users to remember. It's also important, IMO, to provide a more distinct identity for the library on campus. That's not too much to ask.
That said, there are always campus IT departments that aren't willing to play nice with domain names and/or local conventions that might not make this possible. (Example: last place I worked was an academic library that supported three colleges, so we couldn't brand as one or the other of the colleges, so we went the the campus name as the domain name, with "library" as the subdomain.)
"Lib" is a silly pet peeve of mine. And anyway, do you say, "lib" or "libe"? Again, imagine giving the URL out to a student over the phone. ;)
--
Nina
Nina McHale, MA/MSLS
milehighbrarian.net<http://milehighbrarian.net/>
Facebook & Twitter: @ninermac
On Wed, Sep 19, 2012 at 9:36 AM, Ross Singer <rossfsinger at gmail.com<mailto:rossfsinger at gmail.com>> wrote:
On Wednesday, September 19, 2012 at 11:22 AM, Isidro F. Aguillo wrote:
Talking about friendly URLs, why are many libraries using "lib" instead of "library" in the URL?. There is no real advantage on this that fact penalizes in search engines rank as end-users are asking for "library", not lib. The same applies to biol instead of biology, med instead of medicine and more relevant to this forum, eprints/dspace instead of repository.
While I would say that the reason is most likely historical (since I know, for example, that www.lib.utk.edu<http://www.lib.utk.edu> predates any 'search engine' and, generally, the domain .lib.utk.edu<http://lib.utk.edu> predates, well, Gopher -- speaking first hand on this, I guess dates me a bit).
But setting aside the reason for .lib, do you have any evidence that this hurts SEO? I would be shocked if search engines' dictionaries didn't map lib to library, especially since the terms are so prevalent in computing (among the zillions of other applications of lib/library).
I would think just from critical mass alone, the search engines would infer a synonymous relationship between lib and library that would cancel any loss of SEO.
But, if you have evidence to the contrary, I think it would be useful to these libraries!
-Ross.
A few examples:
The University of Chicago Library lib.uchicago.edu/<http://lib.uchicago.edu/>
UMD Library University of Minnesota Duluth www.d.umn.edu/lib/<http://www.d.umn.edu/lib/>
The Library-University of California, Berkeley www.lib.berkeley.edu/<http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/>
e-Library at Iowa State University www.lib.iastate.edu/<http://www.lib.iastate.edu/>
Monash University Library www.lib.monash.edu/<http://www.lib.monash.edu/>
Michigan State University Libraries www.lib.msu.edu/<http://www.lib.msu.edu/>
NCSU Libraries www.lib.ncsu.edu/<http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/>
UC Davis - University Library www.lib.ucdavis.edu/<http://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/>
The University of Iowa Libraries www.lib.uiowa.edu/<http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/>
University of Maryland Libraries www.lib.umd.edu/<http://www.lib.umd.edu/>
MLibrary Homepage | MLibrary www.lib.umich.edu/<http://www.lib.umich.edu/>
University of Texas Libraries www.lib.utexas.edu/<http://www.lib.utexas.edu/>
University Libraries - University of Tennessee, Knoxville www.lib.utk.edu/<http://www.lib.utk.edu/>
University Libraries | Virginia Tech www.lib.vt.edu/<http://www.lib.vt.edu/>
University of Washington Libraries www.lib.washington.edu/<http://www.lib.washington.edu/>
Best,
El 19/09/2012 17:08, Hess, M. Ryan escribió:
One thing that come to my mind is that the new URL is not as friendly. I would really push to keep your existing one using the DNS aliasing. If only to make it simple for staff to say the URL to people over the phone or in the classroom aloud. Nobody is going to be able to remember the new path.
M Ryan Hess
Web Services Coordinator
DePaul University
JTR 120, DePaul University, Lincoln Park Campus, 2350 N Kenmore Ave., Chicago IL 60614
office: 773-325-7829<tel:773-325-7829> | cell: 650-224-7279<tel:650-224-7279> | fax: 773-325-2297<tel:773-325-2297> | mhess8 at depaul.edu<https://outlook.depaul.edu/owa/UrlBlockedError.aspx>
From: <Dobbs>, Aaron <AWDobbs at SHIP.EDU<mailto:AWDobbs at SHIP.EDU>>
Reply-To: Web technologies in libraries <WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU<mailto:WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU>>
Date: Tuesday, September 18, 2012 5:02 PM
To: "WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU<mailto:WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU>" <WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU<mailto:WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU>>
Subject: Re: [WEB4LIB] Help with Implications of Library's place in University DNS
Hiya,
There is no real need for the URL to change, even if the *actual* network path does change.
“library.bethel.edu<http://library.bethel.edu>” is a much better web address than requiring an extensive network path to get to the same content (no matter where it lives) – and library.bethel.edu<http://library.bethel.edu> will also positively impact any SEO for searches such as: Bethel Library.
At MPOW we had library.ship.edu<http://library.ship.edu> aliased to go to our CMS pages at: ship.edu/library<http://ship.edu/library> – when we started our LibGuides service, we were able to have library.ship.edu<http://library.ship.edu> redirected to point to our LibGuides instance, instead.
The DNS aliasing has worked well for us.
-Aaron
:-)’
From: Web technologies in libraries [mailto:WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Kent Gerber
Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2012 5:30 PM
To: WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU<mailto:WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU>
Subject: [WEB4LIB] Help with Implications of Library's place in University DNS
Dear Web Librarians,
Our Library is in the midst of a University-wide web redesign and during a meeting we heard that the Web Services group might be considering moving the library from it's library.bethel.edu<http://library.bethel.edu> domain to something more like www.bethel.edu/offices/library<http://www.bethel.edu/offices/library>. Is this a cause for concern?
My suspicion is that we might lose some functionality with this change but I wanted to consult your expertise before I get too riled up.
Do any of you have experience with this kind of DNS shift and is there a significant technological or functional change that I should be aware of with this issue? Our library does not have an internal Web Services group and we depend on the University's Web Services group for these kinds of issues.
Any advice or experience is appreciated.
Kent
--
Kent Gerber, MSLIS
Digital Library Manager
Bethel University
3900 Bethel Drive
Saint Paul, MN 55112
email: kent-gerber at bethel.edu<mailto:kent-gerber at bethel.edu>
phone: 651-638-6937<tel:651-638-6937>
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--
****************************
Isidro F. Aguillo, HonDr.
The Cybermetrics Lab, CSIC
Madrid. SPAIN
isidro.aguillo at cchs.csic.es<mailto:isidro.aguillo at cchs.csic.es>
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